Air Force adds cyber training for recruits and officers

By staff and wire services reports

April 13th, 2010

The U.S. Air Force will train all new recruits in the basics of cyber warfare and add more advanced schooling for others to help combat the growing threat of attacks on U.S. computer networks, reports the Associated Press. Four-star Gen. Robert Kehler said details are still being worked out on a cyber warfare component for basic training, but it would be brief, perhaps an hour or two total, and would cover only the fundamentals. A more advanced, undergraduate-level training program will begin in June to train officers and enlisted personnel for a new Air Force career field in cyber operations, Kehler said.

He likened it to existing undergraduate training for pilots, navigators, missile operators, and space operators. Kehler, who heads the Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, said the basic training component would cover such basic precautions as using firewalls and passwords. “We teach them at basic training fundamentals of an M-16 [rifle], for example, and an M-9 [pistol], and so we want them to know the fundamentals of the computer network that they’re going to be operating in,” he said…